Bioware being the militant arm of social justice makes me laugh. Not only are they bad at it with signposted gender justice neon signs that take you out of the story, they also toss it all aside whenever they need a sex-puppet NPC. They're the worst poster boys for equality and proper storytelling.

That said quite a lot of games are indeed sexist, usually in subtle ways but sometimes not. It's a male dominated medium so that shit is going to happen. It's nowhere near as bad as comics at least. Walking into a comic shop makes me feel like I'm in a fucking strip club.

Actually, choosing female conquistadore and party members was completely optional in my playthough the game. Pretty much everyone in power I met was also male, so not sure what's the part that bothered you.

For the record, I am opposed to all censorship and that includes making my character wear under garments.

If I want to run around the virtual world in my Birthday suit, I should be able to without the loincloth or the blurring of my characters private parts. In fact we should be able to customize our characters manly or womanly attributes completely: nipple rings, genital piercings, tattoos in those intimate areas, size, color, shaving shapes into the pubes, disproportionate balls or breasts, which way it hangs, or constant state of erection, and of course an option for moobs.

You can spend your time discussing the same old topic for the n-th time, or you could do something constructive and vote for Leather Goddesses of Phobos 2 on GOG's community wishlist:

http://www.gog.com/wishlist/games/leather_goddesses_of_phobos_2_gas_pump_girls_meet_the_pulsating_inconvenience_from_planet_x

I say keep these articles coming, makes my hobby seem like something that only a brave badass would pursue, seeing how articles like this are making video games seem so evil and dangerous.

The situations isn't as bad as the Bioware guy thinks. There are actually a lot of great female characters in gaming, and where do we draw the line on their physical attributes or their attire? Can't a woman celebrate her sexuality and be a strong person? As to the latest Laura Croft design, I thought it was a major improvement.

The articles themselves really don't. They probably wouldn't even get noticed on their own. So if you want to feel like a badass (the type that will be the savior of mankind in 2050), I'm afraid you need to rephrase them in your own words first and assign your own scandalous meaning to them, and then tell the world what only you (the Chosen One) can see, so that you can be sure you will get all due attention for your courageous tilting at windmills. Oh, and coming up with a catchy thread title certainly helps. too. ;)

Let me chip in with the usual "let's not introduce diversity in a forced and contrived manner for the sake of making it seem like we're spreading justice and making the world a better place somehow".
Also, you can imagine Keeveek posting a few posts above or below, telling you that we should respect the vision of the artist, not restrict them in what they want to portray.

On a slightly related note, I was looking forward to attending a lecture gloriously titled "Gender - how to protect oneself against it", but it apparently got cancelled. Damn.

I've got a few ideas. First of all - this could literally be objectification - you're not even hurting WOMEN now, they're represented by machines.
Secondly - if things are inanimate, it's probably fetishism.
Lastly - one could dust off Freud's theories and pretend to know something about psychology by mentioning "compensation" or whatever ;P... You know - there has to be a REASON why you prefer to interact with giant hunks of metal instead of...

But in all seriousness though, those articles are just... well... silly. It's weird that games went from being these violent games that kids should not play to games that no one should play unless they are complete aholes.

I think I'm going to sit on the floor, rock back and forth, and quietly weep with the shocking realization of whatever it is that I have apparently become.

I'm not defending the articles, I'm saying that some people just love jumping to conclusions, getting all worked up just for the fun of it and spreading prejudices, without even bothering to read what's actually written there. This particular speech the article is reporting about might be guilty of the very same things, but that's no excuse to publicly condemn it unheard. Where in the article does it say "video games are evil, sexist, misogynist and racist", where does it say they are dangerous, where that noone should play them?

You too - but I think you shall have mis-earned the low rating really, this should rather not be reserved to bigoted cunts in these fora, but to better opinions.

Thankfully, I do think one mights reclaim this honour once by not buying TW3 upfront, but asking: is TW3 anti-gay:

http://www.gog.com/forum/general/is_the_witcher_2_anti_gay/page1

Possibly, provided the OP has this level of culture to understand it, hey! :-p Hyberbola is as much charming as the total understatement.

I do think that most game developers do go on with a white male executives and a writing staff, and I cannot say that the exception of Tomb Rider is a real case for the contrary either.

It would be a shame that female gamers buy any such games, as headlined by the OP actually - women are more or less the half of all gamers.

Up to us the female gamers to make our purchasing power known.

I was fooled by TW2 - but besides, I have never had to play a "Evil, Sexist, Misogynist and Racist" game otherwise.

Well said.